HOMILY FOR CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS 2008

at Sts. Peter & Paul Church

By Most Rev. Donald J. Reece

HYMN: “What will you bring to the Christ Child?”

Christmas is just too good, too beautiful, to be true!  It is a Feast of Wonder and Awe, beyond our limited  human imagining, and especially so when we consider seriously our Jamaican realities of murder, abuse of all kinds, corruption in private and public sectors, and unbelievable uncouthness amongst fellow Jamaicans.  Without denying all these realities—or better yet because of such realities— Christmas is just too good, too beautiful, to be true!  However, because we stand as humble creatures in awe of God’s mysterious plan, what we are celebrating here tonight is indeed true, good, and beautiful!  And what, in a nutshell, might be that mysterious plan of God?  Nothing less and nothing more than this: that “God so loved the world that He sent his only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life” [John 3:16].

But we do not want to miss the deep significance of this most wonderful and historic event by applying this promise only to the hereafter. The Birth of Christ, the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is applicable in our Christian lives here and now.  For that reason, an early Church Father, St. Ireneaus, while meditating on the Crib scene of Bethlehem, uttered these awesome words: “God has become Man, so that humans may become like unto God.”  Awesome, isn’t it?

(c) copyright, 2008,  roman catholic archdiocese of kingston, jamaica, west indies